This may be a sign of how iPhone demand is faring amongst the competition

The latest iPhone may not be the rockstar Apple thought it would be. The Cupertino, California-based company slashed its orders for iPhone 5 screens by about 50 percent for the first quarter of 2013, and cut orders for other iPhone components as well.

This may be a sign of how iPhone demand is faring amongst the competition. Rival hardware makers like Samsung, whose devices are coupled with Google's Android operating system, have stolen much of the smartphone market share in the U.S.

For Q3 2012, Android was the No. 1 mobile operating system with a market share of 72.4 percent (compared to 52.5 percent in Q3 2011). Apple's iOS followed far behind at 13.9 percent (compared to 15 percent in Q3 2011).

As far as hardware goes, Samsung led the Q3 2012 market share at 22.9 percent (compared to 18.7 percent in Q3 2011) and Apple sat in third place at 5.5 percent (compared to 3.9 percent in Q3 2011).

Apple recently slipped behind in China's smartphone market as well. Apple, which previously held the No. 4 spot in the Chinese mobile phone market, slipped to No. 6 in Q3 2012 due to its low number of shipments, according to research firm IDC. Out of China's 60 million mobile phone shipments in Q3, Apple's iPhone accounted for less than 10 percent.

Apple's iPhone 5 was released in September 2012 with new features like a 4-inch screen and 4G LTE connectivity. It's available in either black or white, and is priced at $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the 64GB model with two-year contracts.

quote: Yup... when 2 people are comparing phones a newer Android vs. iPhone 5, the iPhone user always winds up saying "mine cant do that either" an awful lot. What is is good at are games, and web browsing with its great GPU and great batery life whle browsing... Unfortunately those 2 things are still WAY better on a bigger screen.

"Sure, makes total sense that the company that has been generating more than two-thirds of the entire industry’s profits is that one that should consider acting more like its competitors" [Gruber]

Again Tony for the umpteenth time this is a consumer website, we are consumers. As consumers we really don't care which company makes more profit... We care about the products they made and the price they sell them at. At least you stay out of the completely unwinnable argument of specs and features though.

Fine. Apple is the most profitable company. What does that get you? A better phone? Nope. More features? Nope. They are raking in profits while skimping on features. What exactly is that doing for you? It's fine and all in a discussion, but its all you bring up. "So, Apple makes more money" is not an answer for every technical discussion that goes on here... And the very subject of the article above lends toward the realization that that Zeitgeist that Apple is running on is waning. Just ask RIMM in 2010 with their record profits how it worked out for them.